Sights And Sounds: Class 3A Quarterfinal Battle (Video/Recap)

<p><strong>POJOAQUE</strong> – His name is <strong>Konstantino Scopelitis</strong>.</p>   <p>Scopelitis, a 6-foot-2 senior, has been one of New Mexico Military Institute's top offensive weapons all season long. Friday night, he scored five touchdowns, four rushing, to lead NMMI to a 42-28 road win at No. 4 seed Pojoaque Valley.</p>   <p>Scopelitis rushed for 98 yards on 18 carries and caught 4 passes for 113 yards as he was practically a one-man wrecking crew against the Elks, who struggled all night to tackle or cover the 6-foot-2, 180-pound Scopelitis. NMMI rushed for 221 yards on 48 carries while QB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1613574' first='Luke' last='Tomasits']</strong> was 5-of-6 passing for 153 yards and 2 TD. NMMI totaled 374 yards of offense against the Elks, who were hosting a playoff game for the first time in school history.</p>   <p>Following a scoreless first quarter, NMMI scored first on a short TD run in the opening moments of the second quarter. Later in the quarter, a NMMI punt backed up Pojoaque Valley at its 5-yard line. The Elks fumbled on their first play and NMMI quickly scored on a TD run for a 14-0 lead with 8:23 left in the second quarter.   </p>   <p>After Pojoaque Valley QB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1248677' first='Joshua' last='Gonzales']</strong> raced 32 yards for a TD midway through the second quarter, NMMI scored again late in the quarter.  The Colts connected on a long pass to move the ball into the red zone. Moments later, Tomasits hit Scopelitis for a TD pass to give NMMI a 21-7 halftime lead.</p>   <p>Pojoaque Valley cut the deficit to 21-14 when the Elks took the second half kickoff and drove for a TD on a 21-yard run by RB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1416992' first='D'Marcus' last='Rodriguez']</strong>. NMMI needed less than two minutes to respond. Tomasits hit WR <strong>Mihail Parada</strong> on a long TD pass when the Pojoaque Valley defender fell down, leaving Parada wide open to easily catch the ball and stroll into the end zone.</p>   <p>NMMI pushed the lead to 35-14 when the Colts defense stopped Pojoaque Valley on fourth down at the PV 33. Two plays later, Scopelitis broke loose for a 24-yard TD run with 4:16 left in the third quarter. The Colts kept the Elks at arm's length for the rest of the game, which was delayed for over 30 minutes midway through the fourth quarter when a Pojoaque Valley suffered a potentially serious injury trying to make a tackle along the sidelines near the NMMI bench.</p>   <p>NMMI faces No. 1 seed St. Michael's in the Class 3A semifinals next Saturday at 1 p.m. in Santa Fe. Those two teams met last year in the 3A semifinals in Roswell. </p>   <p><strong>VIDEO 1: First Quarter</strong></p>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://youtu.be/eD_QNldHdD4?si=rDYHW7rPBmD1UZG9 </div></figure>   <p><strong>VIDEO 2: Early Second Quarter (NMMI TD)</strong></p>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://youtu.be/bbGQZ2DSKcs?si=A_THx09A3KfwWrmm </div></figure>   <p><strong>VIDEO 3: Second Quarter (NMMI TD + PV TD</strong>)</p>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://youtu.be/4x_rCY6JZfY?si=4Ya3IE99hq3ylLc_ </div></figure>   <p><strong>VIDEO 4: Late Second Quarter (NMMI TD)</strong></p>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://youtu.be/FGOhgcoxr1s?si=r2VV0E9JnBUBINQC </div></figure>   <p><strong>VIDEO 5: Third Quarter (PV and NMMI TDs)</strong></p>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://youtu.be/MRgpCQGk8o8?si=8egSimKJ6mINeKzX </div></figure>   <p><strong>VIDEO 6: Third Quarter (NMMI TD)</strong></p>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://youtu.be/7ReAXgir44U?si=17Y4euoQgKdalkDc </div></figure>   <p><strong>VIDEO 7: Late Third Quarter/Early Fourth Quarter</strong></p>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://youtu.be/qx81rocmxwc?si=COKD7e-n-KPvqKU- </div></figure>

POJOAQUE – His name is Konstantino Scopelitis.